Today, many electronic devices and systems require a form of user authentication. For example, in a payment system, a smart card may be used to initiate a payment and to authenticate a user. In addition to conventional user authentication via a personal identification number (PIN), a smart card may also include a fingerprint verification device for capturing and verifying the user's fingerprint. In that case, the captured fingerprint may be used to ascertain that the smart card is presented to a terminal by its rightful owner, for example.